[The CyberPoet]

comment #2. if you notice the bolt on the upper part of the shock - that is to mount a remote reservour. dave said ohlins would have a kit. next time you talk with ohlins could you ask how much the 'kit' is ? ( reservour & hose )

tim

The hydraulic preload is available as a series of kits (which you already have built on in the 46ERS/SU802); the external reservior system isn't and has to be integrated at time of original construction.

KNOW THIS:
Ohlins built the electronic system for the K1200R/K1200S.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[pvt. bloggins]

Has anyone installed the Ohlins springs on their bike yet?

I am interested to hear if they felt it made a difference?

[The CyberPoet]

Has anyone installed the Ohlins springs on their bike yet?

I am interested to hear if they felt it made a difference?

The first ones just arrived at my end today. Unless someone sourced them from Sweden, I doubt anyone here has them installed. With an approximate difference in spring rate of about 20% over the 98+ OEM springs, they should reduce dive by about 20%.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[pvt. bloggins]

Cyber, do you ever sleep?

I am excited to hear the test results

[The CyberPoet]

Cyber, do you ever sleep?

Odd Tuesdays in February on leap years.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[The CyberPoet]

Just a long-term follow-up: I installed the ohlins fork springs during my last fork rebuild (stuck with the Suzuki spec'd fork oil weight using a synthetic high-quality fork oil, new seals, stock damper retained, Ohlins springs), and the results were absolutely astounding.

Brake dive? Virtually non-existent even with my semi-lardy butt. Where the stock forks would nose down a good 2-3" when I made my EBC HH pads really bite down hard, the Ohlins dive maybe 1/2", which is just enough to let you know that they are working, but that's it. Totally eliminated any yo-yo'ing over bumps and rough surfaces (used to be an issue with certain concrete slab gaps in our area). Quite a bit more road-surface feedback off the front wheel at your hands, but none of it jarringly so; I can now feel the raised painted lines on the road, but can also hit a 4" deep pothole without worry...

The stock Suzuki OEM 98+ fork springs I removed were dual-rate, with the first rate about half the rate of the rest of the spring, and the lighter section being about 2.5" long. BP's fork spring cheap-shim mod works by pre-compressing that weaker section on the OEM spring so it doesn't play into the action nearly as much.
The Ohlin spring by comparison is a single-rate spring that's about 18%-20% stiffer than the stiff section of the Suzuki OEM spring. Brake dive and dive on other heavy back-front weight transfer events is miniscule and almost non-existent (just barely there) which means it's much more difficult to upset the suspension at all, esp going into turns. The stiffer spring also means the tire reacquires road contact faster if it hits a bump that breaks contact, and there is far less oscillation after a bump event compared to the stock spring (i.e. - even on a heavy bump or hole, there's only a single return movement, not two or three like was the case with the stock springs given very large upsets).

I hate to admit it, but I honestly think the fork springs made a bigger difference to the total handling of the bike than the Ohlin SU802 rear shock (I have SU801's right now, and am planning on upgrading to one).

The good news is that there is no limit on how many of the spring kits I can get for the 98+ Kats' forks.
The bad news is that Ohlins moved through a global price increase in the beginning of '07 to offset increased manufacturing & transport costs, so cost on the fork springs went up (I would expect around $165 delivered to your door for destinations in the USA at this point, but haven't priced them yet this year).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

Wow . I'd get me some if life would quit kicking me in the nuts and taking all my money away .

[The CyberPoet]

Wow . I'd get me some if life would quit kicking me in the nuts and taking all my money away .

Did you get 98+ forks -- or do you know that the pre-98's can take 98+ forks? I have no option for pre-98's -- the spring rates/size/length isn't listed in Ohlin's database, so they can't supply them out of their inventory to their knowledge.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

Eh , swapping forks don't sound TERRIBLY difficult . But I HAVE heard about other spring-makers ....

[The CyberPoet]

Eh , swapping forks don't sound TERRIBLY difficult . But I HAVE heard about other spring-makers ....

I'm sure if you asked RaceTech, they could provide. For that matter, if you took your stock springs to a spring-winding/spring-making company in your area, they could probably fab up replacements to your spec as well. The only advantage to the Ohlins is that they already did all the research and have a superior solution -- I have no doubt others can duplicate the results.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[md86]

True . Just got all; excited hearing about your "new" forks and stopped thinking .

[The CyberPoet]

Ohlins is sending me two 98+ fork spring kits and they should arrive with the next (final) batch of SU801's. If someone wants them, give me a shout.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet